Chapter 52

[ I had a little bit of morning sickness during my pregnancy, but I didn’t really gain or lose much of my weight. I didn’t have any special food to cover for, but Mandy, when I was carrying you, I ate quite a lot—especially my craving to eat chicken had been strong as well. I heard that morning sickness would be rather poisonous for a long time. Therefore, I’m sending you a chicken recipe that you had especially liked, so have the chef make it for you. It will taste much better than simple baby food. ]

I was blown away and surprised by the unexpected remark. It seemed that some information about me was spreading in much more detail than I had thought. It was stating that my period of morning sickness had been rather long. Even so, I never thought that my own mother would have heard about the fact that I was eating Carl’s baby food together with him.

[ I heard that your morning sickness is getting longer and that you haven’t even been able to eat lately. So, Countess Petrika seems to be worried sick. I tried to think that it would have been much better for me, your own mother, to take care of you. However, the situation is not going very well and I became so anxious. ]

As I wondered where my mother had heard of all this, it seemed that Countess Petrika actually was the source. I didn’t think that she would relay the rumor to my mother in a very nice way since she was quite distressed about the news of my pregnancy.

[ Your father is very busy these days with that new job of his. And so are your brothers. In the meantime, since I’m away, there are many things that will bother me in many ways. ]

My eldest brother, who had now been married, was taking care of the viscounty on behalf of his parents and my two older brothers as well as Father had both worked for Count Petrika in the county itself, which my mother came to know about. The new job that my father and older brothers had taken on was not that of a very good one. Things must have been going rather bad that even a mother couldn’t come to see her own pregnant daughter, but she wouldn’t tell me what was really going on and there had been no way that I could actually find out about the family now.

I had been worried about my family and was terribly offended by Count Petrika, but since I wanted to coexist with him as much as possible, I endured it all while looking at Carl’s face. Carl’s face was as innocent as an angel who had fallen quietly asleep without knowing anything at all. And since this child was not an angel who fell right from the sky, but a child who would later become the Duke of DeMancier, I needed the help of his mother’s family.

I calmed myself down by stroking my swollen belly as I finished reading the letter. My mother’s greetings had conveyed both her concern for the approaching winter as well the anticipation of seeing me and my unborn child. How reassuring her words had been when she remarked that she would definitely visit and offer her strength when I was to give birth soon. I ran my finger over the letter’s signature, which gave away my mother’s unique trait before putting the letter back down with a slight sigh.

“I miss you, Mother. Send over the enclosed recipe to the chef and ask him to think whether or not Carl can really eat it.”

“Yes, Madam.”

“And put my mother’s letters inside the mailbox.”

“Yes.”

The two maids took the piece of paper that had the recipe as well as the letter, respectively, before they eventually walked away. At my glance, another maid instantly tore off the wax on the next letter.

[ Mandy, how are you feeling? ]

The handwriting of the content that had been filled with worries about my body’s condition without any sort of greetings was simply familiar. I whispered softly to Carl who would be the other person that might have been curious about Gellerhard’s news as well.

“Your father has sent you a letter, Carl. I’ll read it to you once you wake up later.”

“Ugh…”

I brushed against Carl’s soft cheek while he was in a deep sleep and stroked his hair tenderly. Soft black locks gently fluttered across my fingertips and over the plump, red cheeks of the child who already slumbered in his sound sleep with such red lips.

[ Is Carl bothering you, perhaps? ]

Not at all, how nice our Carl had truly been. Carl still thought that I was in pain, so he didn’t behave like before and even after learning that his own little brother had been in my swollen belly, he would quietly put his face on my belly and talked to it in soft whispers. Not only that, he even stroked it with his own tiny hand.

It was simply so cute that even Gellerhard wouldn’t have been so concerned if he had seen it. Carl’s mischievous laugh of running around with his little younger brother had already come to mind. Even the big daddy was there as well. Gellerhard could even hold both of his two sons, one in each arm. Even if the two brothers were to cling onto his arms one by one, he would still be able to lift them high without flinching at all.

[ I’ll get there as soon as possible. As soon as the winter starts, I will definitely be the fastest to go to you. ]

Gellerhard would also be unable to deal with Count Petrika actively since he was Carl’s maternal grandfather. Nevertheless, I would still stand upright as I opposed Count Petrika’s family and the family of Duchess DeMancier who pretended to be, but still—

I didn’t want to pretend that I wasn’t aware of it, like I did right now and I just wanted to let him know the threat that I had been through before I would like to be comforted in his arms. I really wished to be protected in those big arms of his. In the end, I simply hoped for his safe return.

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